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Tuesday, 9 May 2017

April 2017 - Reading Wrap Up

I was back on form for April in terms of my reading and it was GLORIOUS. Unfortunately there was a complete dud, a lot of average reads, however there were a lot of four star ratings and I managed to read nine books in total which is fine with me!

I fully expected to love this book, I really did. It was just... not my cup of tea, shall we say? The story follows Paige who is a rare type of 'voyant' in a world where voyants are banned and persecuted. She ends up getting caught one day and is sent to a compound where she has revelations about the politics of her world etc etc. Honestly, the plot is way more complicated than that. I really did not like this book, won't be continuing on the series.

The second book in the Shades of Magictrilogy. Not much I can say about this one really. I rated it the same as the first book, it was good but an average read for me unfortunately. I am planning to read the third book just to see how it ends but I don't feel that passionately about it.

This is a historical fiction focusing on the Crimean war. It follows two sisters as their lives diverge. The elder sister becomes a nurse whilst the younger marries a British officer and is dispatched to Crimea. It has a lot of romance, the ending was cute as expected. However, it was nothing memorable.

My third Jane Austen novel and although I liked Northanger Abbey better than Persuasion it didn't blow my mind. It follows Catherine as she visits Bath society for the first time and falls in love. It parodies Gothic novels and was enjoyable enough. The adaptation starring Felicity Jones and Carey Mulligan was amazing though and really helped bring this book to life for me.

I love this series so much. Again, I can't say too much about the plot of this one but I can say that this series is so diverse, unique, and hilarious that I think everyone should give it a try. I love the artwork, the characters, the world, just everything quite frankly. It follows a young family who come from different sides of a war between a planet and it's moon. A lot of horrible people are trying to find them so they can murder them. It's so compelling, I can't wait for the next volume.

I always pretty wary about books that have been hyped to the max so I was dubious about whether or not I wanted to read this book. I am so glad I did! It was brilliant. It follows two half-sisters as their lives converge in 18th century West Africa. Effi is married to a white slave trader while her sister, Esi, is sold into slavery. The book then follows each sister's descendants until the present day. It was short, compelling and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

This is a YA contemporary about first love and having sex for the first time in all it's cringeworthy glory. I cannot convey how absolutely HILARIOUS this book is, I was snorting with laughter at points. Its so funny. Lots of British humour, it really surprised me by how witty and relatable the story was. Its the perfect read if you need a good laugh but if you are at all prudish then stay away!

I don't think I am alone in saying that the subject of death and dying makes me extremely uncomfortable. I am afraid of dead bodies, I am extremely squeamish so I was expecting to be really eeked out by this memoir of a mortician. Oddly, it actually made me laugh and calmed me down as I feel more informed about death. I love Caitlin Doughty and she has a brilliant YouTube channel that I immediately subscribed to after reading her book. I think this should be recommended reading for everyone really as it opens up some topics for those difficult death conversations.★★★★ - The Arrival of Missives by Aliya Whiteley

After reading The Beauty by the same author and recalling how utterly insane and weird it was, I found myself in the mood for something short and weird, so I picked up this little gem. It was weird so it satisfied me. The story is about Shirley, a young girl in a country village, just after World War 1. She falls in love with her teacher who has come back disfigured from the war. Of course he is not all that he seems and some pretty mind bending stuff happens. Its really short and interesting, I would definitely recommend it if you need something quick to read to pass a couple of hours.